DHAS12
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ILDH means immediately dangerous to life or health.
Orange County Fire encryption
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ILDH means immediately dangerous to life or health.
scottyhetzel
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Some Things to Consider
The new Motorola P25 System installation has been underway for the past six months and until recently all the traffic was testing. This week they started reprogramming some of the mobile units and are starting to handout the APX-6000 handheld's. It's nice to finally hear some real traffic on the new system. Before we all get too worried about encryption there are a few things to consider: 1) one reason the Chief's wanted encryption capable radios is so they could communicate directly with law enforcement, 2) the communication division liked the idea of one radio to purchase and service for all agencies, and 3) there is a big deterrent to the fire service using encryption.....MUTUAL AID.
Lets analyze these issues. I have observed on numerous occasions an incident commander attempting to communicate with a police officer 200 feet away. Most often the incident commander calls dispatch who gets on the ring-down to the police dispatcher and passes the message. Totally inefficient.
It is true there are less expensive options to the APX-6000, but if you ever had to maintain a large number of mobiles and handheld's you would appreciate having as few models as possible. I assume the county got a great deal with the total units it purchased. Plus the savings on training and maintenance of one type of radio helps offset some of the cost.
California has a great mutual aid system. With the addition of 800MHz trunking systems it has become a lot more complex, but still workable. Encryption would add an even greater complexity and could cause life threatening problems.
I'm guessing the old system will remain on the air for some time as the change-over could take several weeks to complete. So enjoy listening to the new P25 System.
The new Motorola P25 System installation has been underway for the past six months and until recently all the traffic was testing. This week they started reprogramming some of the mobile units and are starting to handout the APX-6000 handheld's. It's nice to finally hear some real traffic on the new system. Before we all get too worried about encryption there are a few things to consider: 1) one reason the Chief's wanted encryption capable radios is so they could communicate directly with law enforcement, 2) the communication division liked the idea of one radio to purchase and service for all agencies, and 3) there is a big deterrent to the fire service using encryption.....MUTUAL AID.
Lets analyze these issues. I have observed on numerous occasions an incident commander attempting to communicate with a police officer 200 feet away. Most often the incident commander calls dispatch who gets on the ring-down to the police dispatcher and passes the message. Totally inefficient.
It is true there are less expensive options to the APX-6000, but if you ever had to maintain a large number of mobiles and handheld's you would appreciate having as few models as possible. I assume the county got a great deal with the total units it purchased. Plus the savings on training and maintenance of one type of radio helps offset some of the cost.
California has a great mutual aid system. With the addition of 800MHz trunking systems it has become a lot more complex, but still workable. Encryption would add an even greater complexity and could cause life threatening problems.
I'm guessing the old system will remain on the air for some time as the change-over could take several weeks to complete. So enjoy listening to the new P25 System.
That was my original thought - that the encryption is for interop. I believe a couple of cities have already been doing for years. However, I have seen documents (OCFA Board meeting minutes in the first post of this thread) and personally talked to fire personnel who are involved in communications (with a Metro Cities dept). Both have specifically mentioned plans for full-time encryption for the fire TG's.
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Please - tell us more. Is there any information on the new system that you could submit? What is listed now is a single site at Loma and a single site back in Silverado Canyon. It's hard to imagine any agency, much less the fire guys, running any actual comms on either of those....
Most likely both new P25 sites are at Loma Ridge or The Fire Authority for testing.
Once the system goes live and they have figured out where the perm. sites will reside they will stay up at Loma for testing until further notice.
I can tell you the newest site is not located in Silverado right now. It might be labeled Sivlerado but the P25 is not back in the canyon yet. The old site is still active back in the canyon.
Once the system goes live and they have figured out where the perm. sites will reside they will stay up at Loma for testing until further notice.
I can tell you the newest site is not located in Silverado right now. It might be labeled Sivlerado but the P25 is not back in the canyon yet. The old site is still active back in the canyon.
Mike, I don't know the answer to your question. What I do know is that the license (WQQK825) was granted on March 16. The first real traffic I heard was on Sunday, April 8th and Monday, April 9th. It appeared to be patched from the old system since I was hearing the same traffic on the existing CCCS as well as the new P25II System. I heard no traffic Tuesday or today. It was not coming from the Silverado site because I don't have line of site from Silverado. Based on the received signal strength, it was probably Signal Peak.
I believe the intention is to leave the old system on the air until the new system is completely rolled out. This is going to present a problem at many of the sites due to space constriction.
Bob
Well from the previous build out which I think was in the later part of the 1990,s when Orange County rolled out the 800 mhz Analog system the fire departments rolled onto the system first. Then I think Law Enforcement came eventually on the new system in 2001 roughly. They came on board in P25 Digital and of course encrypted. I think Irvine and Tustin PD came aboard first, then the rest followed suit.
So I believe this is what is going happen the same way again. OCFA will come aboard first and then Central and Metro Net departments will follow. Once stable and the system is built out and ready to handle the work load then law enforcement will slowly come aboard in waves.
So I believe this is what is going happen the same way again. OCFA will come aboard first and then Central and Metro Net departments will follow. Once stable and the system is built out and ready to handle the work load then law enforcement will slowly come aboard in waves.
You are correct that the Fire Departments were the first users of the OCCCS. However, also recall when Law Enforcement was upgraded to the new UHF System, in the summer of 1973, fire remained on low-band. So they were more than 20-years behind the police and sheriff and in real need of a new communications system. The change from the old 45MHz channels to an 800MHz Trunking System was a major upgrade and a real challenge to learn just how to use the new system. It is hard to imagine today, with over 70 talk-groups, that the entire fire service in all of Orange County used just 9 low-band channels.
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